To Be Desired
by aang'sbestbuddy
Summary: What is like to fall in love? To have your heart broken? To be desired...? Kataang 100 Challenge
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey guys! Wow, it's been a while hasn't it... Well i know that i should be focusing on writing my most current story Returning Home, but i have decided to try something different since my inspiration is running a lil low on that particualr story. But don't worry, i haven't given up, just postponing for the time being. _**

**_So now i'm going to try the Kataang 100 Challenge! I'm gonna try to describe Aang and Katara in 100 words! Whoo! I'm not sure how long it'll take me, but it's worth a shot! Now i know that these aren't sentences but oh well, I can never write short. Here it goes, hope ya guys like it! _**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender..._**

**To Be Desired**

**Kataang 100 challenge**

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001. Secrets-

They never kept secrets from each other.

Never.

It was an unspoken rule between them that they would never dare to break.

But as the years passed and his teenage hormones raged on, he couldn't help but let his one secret (the one he had kept from her for nearly two years now) out in the open and he couldn't have been more shocked (or embarrassed) ever in his life.

But what shocked him even more was the fact that she shared his secret as well.

And as they came together in a whirl wind of heated kisses and wandering hands, he couldn't help but wonder…

What other secrets was she hiding from him?

002. Gift-

"When someone gives you a gift," she had once heard, "it is wise to accept it graciously."

So as she mingled and spoke to everyone who had come to celebrate Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Mai's wedding, she had no choice but to except a bouquet of flowers Haru had presented her with. She smiled her sweetest smile and thanked Haru with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

Little did she know that the best gift she would ever receive in her life would be given to her that very night.

And at the moment, it was clenched in the hands of a very jealous Avatar watching his beloved from across the room.

003. Rain-

He took a deep and soothing breath, for he could feel it coming. Just a few more seconds…

A few drops here, a few drops there.

And suddenly…

They seemed to fall all at once. Splashing and spraying and drenching his face, his clothes, his… everything

From his place on the roof, he could see children laugh and play in the newly made puddles while frustrated parents tried their best to usher them inside before they ruined their clothing.

A few complaints and pouty whines later the streets are emptied and nothing but the patter of rain echoes throughout the village.

However, he embraces the cool liquid; letting it fall onto his forehead, trickle down his neck and complete its journey by slipping off his fingers.

But the calming pulse of rain fell to deaf ears as he heard the faint rustle of clothing come from behind him. He couldn't help but smile as he felt a certain someone sit beside him and release a contented sigh just as he had moments ago.

"Mmmm," he breathed.

"I know what you mean."

004. Dream-

"What do you dream of?"

Toph looked up in surprise as she heard the question ring through the air and break the calming night's silence.

It was directed to her.

"Me?" She asked unsurely, still surprised that they had addressed her; considering that she was the third wheel.

She had accidently walked in on Aang and Katara's "alone time" out on the cliff side. Only wanting to clear her head and feel the warm summer breeze from atop the cliff she had walked out there, forgetting that that was the couple's favorite spot to talk.

So as she mumbled a slightly embarrassed apology and began to head back to the house, they had invited her to join them; which had surprised her greatly.

For the last ten minutes or so, the three of them sat in comfortable silence.

That is, until, Aang had asked his simple yet oh-so complicated question.

"I, uh… I don't really dream. At least I don't think so," she answered softly. A moment of silence then, "it's mostly sounds… just echoing around. Most of the time I hear people talking, like a conversation I had earlier that day or a distant memory…"

"And other times?" Katara whispered.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Other times, I hear… music. Not like an intricate symphony or anything, just different sounds, beats and rhythms I've heard throughout my life." She paused. "I like music."

A few more seconds passed before Aang began to softly pat his legs in a slow, rhythmic beat.

Shortly after Katara started to hum; her voice smooth and steady.

With a soft chuckle, Toph put her hands behind her head and laid back listening to the duo until she drifted into dreams filled with her friends' laughter…

… And the sound of sweet music.

005. Comfort

She couldn't understand what was wrong with her.

She had done it, _again_.

She unwillingly let herself be consumed by him. Let herself just revel in the feeling of his love for her.

But before she could return his feelings and tell him those three words that she had wanted to tell him for so very long, she pulled away and withdrew within herself.

She let him on and she felt absolutely horrible for it.

So here she was, sitting in a heap on the floor in one of the corners of her room trying her best not to cry.

Suddenly the door cracked open and within seconds she was engulfed in a tight hug and the reassuring warmth of her brother.

"You know," he whispered after a few minutes of silence. "Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down."

Not matter how true, she only wished it would somehow make the pain go away.

006. Fall-

"I told you," he said as he put some ice on his head. "I didn't fall, I _stumbled_. There's a difference."

Katara only smiled and leaning in close to his head, she gave him a lingering kiss on his swollen bump.

"Whatever you say Aang." She turned and headed back to the kitchen to get some more ice while Aang stared at Katara's fading form with dreamy eyes and a wide smile.

"I don't know Twinkletoes," Toph stated from across the room, awakening Aang from his daydreaming. "I'd say that you fell…"

Just then Katara walked past him and blew him a sweet kiss before she exited the room once again. Aang, however, was too consumed by her sudden show of affection to maintain balance in his chair and ended up falling forward and landing on the very same bump from earlier.

"Like I said Twinkletoes," Toph continued with laughter as Aang struggled to get up from the floor and control his groans of pain. "You've definitely fallen… _hard._"

007. Hurt-

"What have I done to deserve this?"

"Nothing, Katara. Nothing at all."

"Then why is this happening? Why does it hurt?"

I remain silent. I don't have an answer.

Or at least one that she wants to hear anyway.

I _want_ to tell her that everything will be okay and that I'm here for her and always will be. That _I_ can be the one to heal her newly broken heart.

But I won't dare to utter the words that are hanging from my lips because deep down I know she doesn't want to hear it.

She just wants _him_ back.

"To see him with some other girl… it hurts so, _so_ much. You have no idea."

I close my eyes and slowly shake my head with a disappointing smile she cannot see. _Oh, I don't know, do I?_

"Katara," I whisper. "One of the hardest things in life is watching someone you love, love someone else." I take a deep breath and stand, my back towards her. I couldn't stand for her to see fresh tears run down my face.

"But if you love someone, let them go. If they return, then they were always yours. If they don't," I begin to walk, leaving her behind on the balcony. "Then they never were."

_I just wish I realized that a long time ago._

008. Smile-

"I love your smile."

I turn away from the fruit stand with a single eyebrow raised and an amused smile. "Oh?"

"Mmmhm."

I abandoned the fruit stand to come up behind her and encircle her in my arms. "And why exactly did you decided to share this with me now?"

She turned around and lightly placed her hands behind my neck and stared at my mouth with a smile of her own. "I don't know. I was just thinking and somehow ended up on the subject of your smile so I decided to tell you how much I love it."

I struggled to not laugh as I slowly nodded my head. "Uh-huh, I see. Well, just for the record, I love your smile too." I leaned down and lightly pecked her lips.

She smirked. "And why is that?"

"Well why do you like mine?"

"I asked you first."

"Fine." I took a breath and thought about my answer. "Well," I began with a lazy grin. "Every time someone smiles it is an action of love, a gift to the other person. It's a beautiful thing." I paused. "But on you, it's ten times better."

Her smile grew even wider, if that were possible. "That was incredibly sweet and nothing close to what I was going to say."

"I want to hear it anyway."

"Well," she said as she turned to the people around us. "People will smile at anyone who catches their eye. No matter who it is, it's most people's nature to smile politely and go on about their business." She turned back to me. "But I like yours because you smile at me and mean it."

009. Friendship-

Even if Aang desperately wanted to be more than friends with Katara, he knew deep down that being friends was almost just as good.

"_The best kind of friend," he had heard from Gyatso one evening. "Is the one you could sit down with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've ever had"._

And as he laid in silence with Katara next to the camp fire, just watching the stars and enjoying each other's company, he couldn't have agreed more.

010. Wisdom-

"Hahahaha!"

Aang looked up in surprise to see an old merchant standing behind his counter laughing uncontrollably at him.

"Yeah ha-ha very funny," Aang grumbled to himself as he tried to lift himself up from his mess on the floor; which happened to be another failed attempt at trying to impress Katara.

Just as he was almost all the way up, he slipped on the remaining water and fell on his backside with a painful _thud_.

Another wail of laughter burst from the merchant and Aang glared at him from the ground.

"You know, instead of laughing at me you could at least help me up," he said, growing frustrated with how everything was turning out for him. As if it weren't bad enough that his little stunt didn't even catch Katara's attention (instead Sokka asked her for help to find the meat stand and left right before Aang fell) but now a crazy old man was laughing at him along with a few other passerbys.

The old man wiped at a stray tear from his eye and stared at Aang with an amusing smile.

"Don't you know, boy?" the old man said, ignoring his request for help.

Aang raised an inquisitive brow, trying to forget exactly how annoyed he was with the old man.

He chuckled. "Trying to make someone fall in love with you is about as pointless as trying to control who you fall in love with." The old man chuckled one last time before disappearing into the back of his shop.

And as Aang laid in the bitter, icy water, he couldn't quite figure out if the old man's words were a good thing or not.

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_**So there's the first ten for ya! Hope ya liked them. REVIEWS are always nice and they make my day :)**_

**_Okay, so i have to give credit for some of the things i used in here. If you've read my profile, i love quotes. I believe that some of them are more powerful than poems. So of course, i had to insert some of my favorites in here (and most likely throughout the rest of the Challenge). I'm sorry for those who i couldn't find the names and give proper credit to. _**

**_Thank you very much:_**  
_**-All of the Unknown Authors**_

-Mother Teresa


	2. 011 Choices

_**OK, so here's #11. **_

**011. Choices**

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"I think that maybe… she's had enough for tonight."

Toph shook her head. "Yeah, that's probably a safe bet."

I sighed heavily. "How many do you think she's had? Two? Three?"

"I lost count at five."

I groaned as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Well, come on. Let's get her out of here before she downs another glass."

Toph snorted and rolled her unseeing eyes. "I'm not helping you get Ms. Wasted over there. Knowing her, she's probably violent when drunk."

"I've never seen her drink so much. I wouldn't know," I mumbled, stealing a glance at her from between my fingers.

"Seeing as you've been in and out of our lives for the past four years, I'd say you wouldn't know a lot about any of us."

I clenched my teeth. I knew somewhere deep down that my friends never fully accepted my random absences throughout the years, but I never really thought about how much it affected them until moments likes these would come out of nowhere. Apparently, Toph still had some hard feelings.

Before I had the chance to say anything in response, Toph grabbed her glass and stood.

"Well, you have fun Twinkletoes," and with that she strode away with a slight rise of her glass over her shoulder in parting.

Great. Well, here goes nothing.

I stood and took a calming breath before I began to make my way over to her table, where she sat alone.

She must have seen me coming because she put her empty glass on the table before crossing her arms over her chest.

I pulled out the chair next to her and sat facing the crowd, not fully ready to face her directly. After all it's been months since the last time we've spoken and even then it was a bit… difficult, at least for me.

Without taking my eyes off the dance floor full of nobles and high ranking officials I said softly, "I think you've had enough Katara. Let's get you back to your room."

Tearing my eyes away I chanced a look at her and was surprised to see her already staring back. I swallowed. Yeah, it's still difficult.

Even though her eyes were bloodshot and she seemed to be sitting slack in her seat, she still looked as stunning as ever. Her dark blue dress sparkled in the dim light and fit her every curve perfectly. Even from my distance I could still smell her intoxicating scent that could only be described as _Katara_.

She looked at me with a cross between boredom and miniscule disbelief. She sighed and I could smell the wine on her breath.

"I'm not done."

"I don't think you need any more."

"I can decide when I've had enough, thanks."

"I'm sure you can, but I say that you've had enough for tonight."

"And who are you to tell me that I'm finished."

It was my turn to sigh. She didn't seem angry or annoyed in the least; on the contrary, it didn't seem like she cared at all. So I reached over and lightly clasped her wrist that was resting on the table.

"Come on, you need some rest."

She glanced at my hand that was holding her wrist and then at my face. Other than minor surprise she seemed okay with my actions and stood. As we began to make our way across the ballroom to get to the opposite hallway I slid my hand into hers as slyly as I could. I couldn't help myself and I didn't dare turn to see her reaction.

Neither of us said a word as we walked through the palace. Only until we were almost at her door did she break the silence.

"How did you know where my room was?"

"I…" I couldn't tell her that I watched her every move. I couldn't let her know that even when I was away, I thought about her and what she was probably doing at that very moment of which she crossed my mind; which happened to be very often. And I certainly couldn't let it slip that I was still so desperately in love with her, even after all these years.

I fell silent and she didn't question any further.

Once we were in, I went straight to her dresser and began to look for some kind of night wear she could put on. While I was searching I heard a sniffle and I turned to see Katara's eyes filled with tears.

"Whoa what happened?" Panicking, I quickly removed my hands from her dresser and put them behind my back. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked through your stuff without asking. I'm sorry!"

Ignoring my apologies, she leaned against the nearest bedpost and hastily swiped at her tears.

"Did you really move on already, or am I just not good enough. Yeah, that's probably it… not good enough." She mumbled it and I had to strain to hear her towards the end. Once I grasped what she said, I felt utter confusion. Did I miss something?

"Um, what are you talking about Katara?" She slid down the post until she was sitting, encircling her knees with her eyes closed. I moved towards her until I was kneeling in front of her.

"Hey, what's going on? What's wrong?" She lifted her head and suddenly the bored and tired Katara was no longer there. Instead the hostile and aggressive Katara was glaring at me; her blue eyes were like icy daggers.

"Gee, I don't know Aang, what _is_ wrong?" She hissed at me and I stumbled backwards. Suddenly she stood and hovered over me as I scrambled to get up. "Maybe I should just get up and leave for four years without _any_ explanation whatsoever! Then, to make it even better, come back for two or three days every eight months or so and act like nothing was amiss! What if I did that, huh? Could I ask _you_ what was wrong then?"

"Um… Katara, please… just…"

"Just what, Aang? What?"

"Just calm down for a minute, okay?" I told her as finally got to my feet. I took both of her wrists into my hands and held them between us. "Relax."

She glowered at me in steaming silence for quite some. I tried to hold her gaze with a look of reassurance but it was hard to pretend I didn't know what she was talking about and seem like she was the one who was going nuts.

"Please, let me explain," I whispered as calmly as I could, despite my rapid heartbeat. Whether it was beating from the death glare I was still receiving from Katara or the fact that I was grasping her warm wrists and she was literally a foot away from me, I wasn't sure.

"I understand why you're upset, I do. I'm sorry. Truly and utterly sorry. I left because… I was scared." It was finally out now, and there was no turning back.

"I was scared that I kept interrupting your lives just as all of you were beginning to settle down." She relaxed a bit, though her arms were still tense in mine and her mouth was set in a hard line.

"Remember the first rebellion attack three months after the war ended? You and Sokka and Toph and everyone else were just beginning to start over. Sokka was building a home that he and Suki could live in when she visited. Toph had just started to rebuild her relationship with her parents. And you were helping Pakku teach the younger kids in your village to water bend."

I sighed and let go of her arms to turn away from her.

"But then I had to come along and uproot everyone again with a threat of a possible rebellion attack on the Earth Kingdom capitol. It was a false alarm that lasted seven weeks. Seven weeks of us just sitting around waiting for something to happen when nothing did! It was a wasted seven weeks."

"But Aang…"

"I left because I was wasting your life... All of yours."

It fell silent once again, until…

"That was stupid." I swirled around to face her, stunned.

"What?"

She looked up at me with an annoyed expression. "That was a stupid reason and you know it."

I opened my mouth to argue, but found it was no use. She didn't understand there was more to it than that.

"Yeah that mission was a false alarm. So what? It's not like you forced us to come with you. Everyone had a choice."

"I know, that's the point!" I exploded. I could feel the floodgate bursting inside of me and I didn't try to hold them back.

"Sokka _chose_ to build a house for him and Suki. Toph _chose_ to go back to her parents. And look what I did! I robbed them of their ability to do so because of their obligation to me. Look what happened to Sokka's unfinished house when he got back. It was destroyed by the arctic winds because it was winter. He had to start all over again. And Toph! Her parents were furious at me for taking her away again! Who am I to ruin everyone's lives?" And who was I to think I could keep _her_ with me forever. Foolish.

"Fine," she hissed at me through clenched teeth. "If you want to play like that then here, let me ask you this. What was _my_ choice Aang? Hmm?"

"You chose to help Pakku teach water bending."

"Wrong! _That_ was just to occupy me while I waited for my real choice to come back."

"Oh really? Then what was it?" I yelled. I knew I was being a jerk but I didn't care. If I was going to break my heart all over again then I might as well do it thoroughly.

"It was you!"

Right at that moment I felt my heart clench painfully in my chest. My mind screeched to an abrupt halt.

"I chose _you_ Aang. I wanted to travel with you, to live with you, to _be _with you… it was always you."

"I…" I was stunned. My breath caught in my throat. She chose me?

"But if you're so convinced that you were ruining everyone's lives, then look at what you did to me. I wanted nothing else but you, and you still left."

I couldn't breathe. The room seemed to not have enough air and yet I stilled tried to fill my lungs to no avail. I could feel my chest getting tight and my head spin.

"But… but you never said anything," I whispered hoarsely.

"That's because you never gave me a chance." She was leaning against her bedpost again and I stood across from her ready to collapse at any moment.

She let out a small, sarcastic laugh and crossed her arms over her chest. "But I guess me choosing you didn't really matter huh? I should've known that little crush of yours was just that, a crush." She looked down to her feet.

"No," I breathed, finally coming to my senses and getting a grip. "It was never a crush. It's always been much more than that."

For the hundredth time that night the room fell silent. My breathing was labored and my heart hammered in my ears but I felt…light. Realization came crashing down on me from all sides. She wanted me, _me_.

Suddenly, she leaned away from the bedpost and slowly made her way towards where I stood. A second later, I was wrapped up in her arms in the warmest hug I had ever received from her. Her face nuzzled my neck and I couldn't help but bury mine in her soft hair.

"Katara?"

"Yeah?"

I smiled softly against her hair. "It'll always be you. Forever."

She laughed lightly and kissed the side of my neck, sending a shock of pleasure down my spine.

"I love you too."


	3. 012: Intoxicate

_**OK so I decided to update for some reason that's beyond me. Anyway it's not completely new because it has the same story line as the last one except I rewrote most of it to a version I like better. I wish I would've posted this one first but whatever. Hope you all enjoy! **_

"I think that maybe… she's had enough for tonight."

Toph shook her head. "Yeah, that's probably a safe bet."

I sighed heavily. "How many do you think she's had? Three? Four?"

"I lost count at six."

I groaned as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Well, come on. Let's get her out of here before she downs another glass."

Toph snorted and rolled her unseeing eyes. "I'm not helping you get Ms. Wasted over there. Knowing her, she's probably violent when drunk."

"I've never seen her drink so much. I wouldn't know," I mumbled, stealing a glance at her from between my fingers.

"Well," Toph said as she stood from her seat beside me. "You have fun Twinkletoes," and with that she strode away into the crowd.

I watched her leave in annoyance before I turned back to Katara. She was currently asking a nervous looking waiter for another glass, to which he hesitated slightly before giving in and handing her a full glass of wine. I slapped my hand to my face. What was wrong with him!

_Never mind. Just get her out of here._

I stood and took a calming breath before I began to make my way over to where she was attempting to make conversation with some noblemen's daughters. Even from my distance I could hear her drunken voice carry throughout the ball room.

"So then he had the nerve to say, 'if it was a choice between kissing you and dying..'"

Wait a minute…

"Ooooookay." I said as I stepped between Katara and the three other women crowding her. "I'm sorry to interrupt but it's time for Katara to get back to her room. She's had a pretty long day."

Katara opened her mouth to protest but one of the noblemen's daughters stepped in first. "Oh, but Avatar Aang, Lady Katara was just telling us the most interesting story we've heard all night." She then stepped around me and faced Katara. "What kind of a man would say that! Oh, what a rooster-pig!"

The other two followed suit. Another one of them said, dramatic disbelief dripping from her voice, "Oh, what _nerve_! I wouldn't know what to say if that happened to me! What did you do next Lady Katara?

"Oh wait, before you go on you must tell us who this mad man is," the last one added. Ok, that was enough.

"Well, actually-"

I quickly interceded. "Again, I'm terribly sorry to cut this short but Lady Katara has to go now." Without another word I grabbed her glass and handed it to the nearest person and lead her across the ball room by her shoulder.

"Hey! What was that for? I was having a decent conversation back there," she slurred through most of her sentence and if I wasn't concerned with the fact she had gotten completely wasted for no apparent reason that I could see, I would've been laughing by now.

"You're drunk Katara." By this time we had made it outside the ballroom and into the main hallways.

"I'm not- _hiccup_ -drunk." I sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Let's just get you to your room, alright." She swayed in silence before she quietly followed me down the hall.

Neither of us said a word until we reached her room. I was closing the window when I heard, "Aang…" It came out as a whisper and I stole a quick glance to see if she was alright.

"Yeah?"

She was sitting on the edge of her bed but when I turned to fully face her she got up and walked towards me until she was less than a foot away. I swallowed uncomfortably.

"Aang…" she repeated and I couldn't help but nervously glance about the room. Then her lips turned upward and she began to giggle.

"Let's dance," she said as she grabbed my hands and began to spin. I smiled faintly.

"Katara… I don't want you getting dizzier than you already are."

"Come on Aang," she slurred. "I'm not…dizzy… just dance with me." She then spun faster and tried to pull me along.

"Katara…" I tried to get her to stop moving but it was in vain. Somewhere in the process she spun behind me, and as I started to turn around, she decided to dance backwards towards me and trip over her own feet. I barely had enough time to catch her around the waist before my back made contact with the wall. Combined with the force of the fall and her weight, I had the breath knocked out of me and we slid, ungracefully, to the floor.

For a few seconds the only sound was my uneven breathing. But all of a sudden Katara began to laugh. I blinked in surprise until I found myself laughing along with her; only, it came out as more of a strangled chuckle than anything else.

"Are you alright?" She asked between giggles.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." It was then that I realized the position we were in and why my heart had yet to calm down. My back was still pressed against the wall with my legs spread out in front of me but the problem was that Katara was seated between my legs with her back lounging against my chest.

Her scent that could only be described as _Katara_ invaded my senses and I began to feel a bit dizzy myself. The room fell silent once again.

I was content with just listening to her breathe until she decided to lean back until her head rested against my shoulder and the side of her face was pressed against my neck.

I attempted to calm my heart before I spoke and even then I could only manage to whisper her name in question.

As if she didn't hear me, she continued on with a question of her own.

"Why did you leave for so long?" She sounded drained and poignant and I wasn't quite sure how to answer so I held my tongue. But as the seconds ticked by I cleared my throat.

"What…uh, what do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," she whispered. Another few seconds in silence went by and I just couldn't help myself.

"I tried to keep in contact the best I could," I confessed, unable to stop. "I think I did a fairly good job in the beginning. But every time I came back from wherever I was at, I felt like I kept…interrupting things."

I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes. My voice fell soft and quiet. "I remember when I came back from a meeting in the Earth Kingdom about a year after the war ended. I was gone for three months. That was the longest I was ever away at one time. I went to visit you and Sokka in the South Pole, but when I got there everyone was busy with their own things. Suki was visiting Sokka and you had just started to teach water bending to the younger kids of your village with Pakku. Do you remember?"

She nodded her head which caused her nose to brush the side of my neck. A pleasant shiver ran down my spine.

"I think that's when I realized it was time for all of you to move on and finally get a chance to start your own lives. Lives that don't involve politics and constant travel and things like that. So if removing myself from the picture was what it took to give you guys what you always wanted, then that's what had to be done. And I did it."

A heavy silence fell on us after that. Neither of us said a word and I could still hear my own words echo in the stillness

She shifted suddenly and sighed.

A pause and then, "But…I wanted you."

For the second time that night, the breath was knocked out of me.

"What?" I said so quietly that I didn't think she could've heard, no matter how close she was. But she did.

"I wanted you," she repeated. "To travel with you, to live with you, to be with you… it's always been you."

I fell silent as thousands of thoughts and feelings came crashing down in waves all around me. Shock, surprise, happiness, adoration, elation; there was no end.

Until I got a grip on reality and pure disappointment punched me in the gut.

"Katara…you're drunk," I mumbled. "You don't know what you're saying."

"I know perfectly well what I'm saying." She sounded weary and distant. She was about to fall asleep.

"No… you don't."

Minutes of silence dragged on. Pain and frustration coursed through my body. I breathed heavily through my nose, trying to dispel these feelings of despair and rejection. Once the wave washed over for the most part I glanced down at her face.

Asleep.

_Sigh_…

I cleared my throat and adjusted my arms.

"Come on Katara," I mumbled as I stood and tried to help her up. "Let's get you to the bed."

She groaned awake as I got her to her feet and opened her eyes to slits. Once she reached the bed she turned herself around and fell backwards onto the mattress releasing a long sigh.

No matter how hurt I was just a few seconds ago, I didn't have the heart to leave her there. I knelt down to where her legs were dangling off the side of the bed and removed her shoes. Then, I twisted her around until her head was resting comfortably on the pillow and her legs were tucked warmly underneath the blankets.

"Thanks."

I smiled, albeit a rather small and tired one. "You're welcome Katara. Good night."

"Wait." Her hand shot out into the darkness and brushed my sleeve. I grabbed it and absorbed the shock of electricity that only I probably felt. I softly laid her hand down beside her. I could feel the pain seeping in again.

"What is it?"

"Stay with me," she whispered, eyes still closed.

I stayed silent for a long time, trying not to let any kind of emotion get through to me. I focused on my hands on the edge of her bed.

"I… can't." _Why does she have to do this to me?_

"You can't, or you won't?" I shifted my eyes back to her face. Her bloodshot eyes were open now and were staring into mine, patient and pleading. What little resolve I still possessed was slipping away and an empty ache was replacing it. No. I couldn't stay with her because I would just break my heart all over again within a ten second span.

"I won't."

Disbelieve flashed through her eyes before she closed them. She went still and if I didn't know any better, I would have mistaken her for having fallen asleep again. But her stiffness and the hard set of her mouth told me otherwise.

Without moving a muscle she said, "I just told you that what I wanted the most was to be with you forever and you can't even stay with me on your first night back in three and a half years?"

Without thinking I responded quietly, "You don't know what you're saying."

She sat up suddenly, grabbed my hand and held it between both of hers.

Ignoring my last comment she whispered, "Does this not mean anything to you anymore? Have you really given up on me?"

I fixed my gaze on my hand intertwined with hers and felt the warmth spread throughout my body. Absently, I tried to remember the last time she held my hand like this before. It seemed like a hundred years ago…

"I love you Katara," I blurted suddenly. "I always will."

A faint smile graced her tired features. "Do you mean that?"

"Of course," I whispered, my eyes still fixated on our hands. She closed her eyes then, and laid back with a contented sigh.

"Good night," I said again as I pulled my hand away from hers. The pain was almost unbearable.

"Love you…"

As I walked out through the door, I stopped and let her voice utter the most incredible sentence she could possibly say to me linger in my head… and then the last piece of my heart shattered and fell to the floor.

* * *

I groaned as the sunlight streamed between the curtains of my window and landed directly on my face. Moving away from it didn't help any either, but I had to get up. My head was pounding and I felt achy.

I sat up as slowly as I could, taking it one step at a time. Once I was sitting upright, I carefully opened my eyes and blinked a couple times before I adjusted to the light.

"Ugh…" I groaned aloud. "How much did I have to drink last night?"

Well, I remember taking the first and then the second. I vaguely recall the third. But after the fourth, my memory began to get fuzzy.

But one thing stuck out in my mind at that moment and made my heart skip a beat. Vague memories of a handsome young man with blue tattoos and a fresh bald head.

"Aang…he was at the ball last night. He's back." But that's as far as I got before my head was hit with another sharp stab of pain.

Maybe after a nice, warm shower I could ask him what happened…

* * *

**_Yup, I like this version much better :) As always reviews are appreciated and tell me which one you guys think is better! _**

~aang'sbestbuddy


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